Back to School

Right now a lot of my friends are gearing up for another year of teaching. I loved teaching and if I had to work again it would be the job I would return to. However, I am so very thankful and blessed to be able to stay at home and spend time with Maddy and give her the education that Mark and I feel she needs.

When I was teaching I loved learning, expanding my knowledge and vocabulary. I loved the kinship and friendship that I made with the teachers I worked with. The ability to make an impact on a student in some cases where everyone else had given up on them. Watching the light bulbs go off when the kiddos actually understood the point we were trying to make. This was a challenge because I taught World History at a school were most kiddos had never left town.

I am always amazed and touched when former students find me and want to be FaceBook friends with me. It makes me proud to know that they will still allow me into their lives and want me to know how they are doing. There are some many great kids out there, but all we ever hear on the news is about the bad ones.

What makes me sad is that I feel the need to home school my child because I don't have the confidence in either public or private schools to provide her with skills that she desperately needs.

I get angry when I think of all the schools and teachers that are being micro managed by people who have either never taught school or have been out of the classroom so long they don't know how to relate to children anymore.

It disgusts me that we teach to the lowest common denominator and that teachers are told that they will never be questioned for passing a student but they must defend why they will fail one.

I wish that we as a society would place a much higher value on education and instilling the desire to be the best and brightest. Instead our education system has become a parent, meal provider and babysitter for the masses.